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US/Algeria: Reveal Location of Guantanamo Detainees

Human Rights WatchJuly 11, 2008

Two Algerians missing since their July 2 return home

(Washington, DC, July 11,
2008) – US and Algerian authorities should immediately reveal the
whereabouts of two Algerians transferred from Guantanamo to Algeria on
July 2, 2008, Human Rights Watch said today. The two men, Abderrahmane
Houari, 28, and Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily, 49, have been missing since
their return.

“Washington apparently spent
months, if not years, negotiating to send these men from Guantanamo
back to Algeria,” said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel
at Human Rights Watch. “The US now has an obligation to ensure that
Algerian authorities treat the men humanely and inform their families
and lawyers where they are being held.”

The United States announced that it had transferred Houari
and Hamlily from Guantanamo to Algeria on July 2. Algeria has made no
announcement confirming their whereabouts, as far as Human Rights Watch
knows. They are the first Algerians to be repatriated from Guantanamo,
where they were held for more than six years. Around two dozen
Algerians remain in Guantanamo, including at least five who have
expressed serious concerns about being returned home.

Under Algerian law, persons suspected of crimes relating to
terrorism can be held for up to 12 days in “garde à vue” detention
without access to a lawyer. In practice, the police often hold suspects
under this law incommunicado, violating their right under the code of
criminal procedure to communicate “immediately and directly” with their
family during the period of garde à vue. Police have reportedly
tortured and abused detainees during this initial period of custody.

In 2007 two Algerians, Benaissa Taleb and Rida Dendani,
deported from Britain to Algeria, were held for 12 days, interrogated,
and reportedly threatened, beaten, and otherwise abused. Both were
ultimately charged, tried, and convicted of involvement with a
terrorist organization outside Algeria. The confessions made during
this initial 12-day detention period, allegedly under coercion, were
used as evidence against them.

The United States is well aware of these abuses. The State
Department 2007 Country Report on Human Rights Practices listed
“reports of torture and abuse” as among the “significant human rights
problems” in Algeria. In addition, the United Nations Committee against
Torture in May 2008 expressed strong concerns about reported torture
and other mistreatment of detainees within Algerian custody and urged
Algeria to provide all persons in garde-à-vue detention with prompt
access to a lawyer and to a doctor.

Houari reportedly suffers from serious mental health
problems. In December 2007 in Guantanamo, he reportedly tried to kill
himself by tearing at his throat with his fingernails. When his lawyers
last visited him there, he was taking three different psychotropic
drugs, yet still reported seeing phantoms and hearing voices.

Hamlily, whose wife was pregnant at the time of his arrest,
has never seen his youngest child. His wife and five children live in
Pakistan. His sister is in Algeria. Hamlily reportedly suffers from
diabetes.

“After six years in Guantanamo, these men are finally
home,” Daskal said. “Algeria should immediately disclose their
whereabouts, provide Houari much-needed medical care, and give both a
chance to reunite with their families.”